Of Flowers and Freedom
by Pen Sil
Summary: They are both shackled to their pasts but the difference is that he is obsessed with avenging it and she with running from it.


**Of Flowers and Freedom**

He knows he will never have what he truly wishes for. He knows that life and laughter is long since eradicated from his life. He has accepted that, all along, it was his plan, and he thinks that that knowledge is what keeps him from falling into depravity.

He's always been too focused on his past. It's what keeps him chained, shackled, to a throne, with broad heavy shoulders that have grown strong to a burden that he knows he did not need to bear. Or maybe it is a burden he could have borne another way. But he would not; there was someone he'd sworn to protect and for that person he'd put one foot into the shadowy lake of chaos.

* * *

><p>She's always been running from her past. She spoke of it well enough to him, trying to make him understand. And yet, he never could.<p>

For long nights he lay awake thinking about it, regretting his words, trying to understand what had made her chose to not come with him. He had thought that life of an empress would set her free, take away all her burdens. But more than anything else it would have bound her.

Morgiana does not suit the Kou Empire's court. She is the eagle that flies over the vast land, the predator who sees everything with clarity. A being in love with freedom.

And he would have taken that away.

He would have demanded that she rip her loyalties in two.

It would not do.

* * *

><p>People call him a monster and it makes her worry until they see each other again. The darkness has spread around him, she can see that, but there is still some of the Hakuryuu she knows and cares for left in him.<p>

He is just lonely and frustrated, and she thinks he might miss the people who could laugh with him in the sun.

They bow to each other, warrior representant of Barbadd's king's household, and First Imperial Prince of Kou. She is dressed for her mission in armor hidden behind a pretty dress, her shackles visible to to the world, and he in robes befitting an emperor. They are cold and courteous and it is only later, when diplomacies are over for the day, that he requests her company. A stroll in the garden will harm no one.

She dares not refuse.

* * *

><p>"I've been wanting to apologise to you, Lady Morgiana," he says.<p>

She pets the blue flower she's been looking at and let's it go, turning to watch him expectantly.

He knows her gaze would have made him feel uncomfortable when he was younger. But the feeling of having her here, beside him once more, is intoxicating and he wants to show her that he understands. He wants back into her good graces, wants to be a person who inspires her to do things again.

He crouches beside her on the grass and pulls at a flower. It follows him willingly and he does not break it. "Here at court we refer to beautiful women as flowers," he says. "It is a compliment that I do not think them worthy of for they accept and seek the confinement that our culture demands of them. A plant with respect for itself would not hide in the shadow of another. It would seek the sun and fresh air above the others..."

He trails off, thinking again. His compliment has gone awry and he knows the point is lost.

She places a hand over his and says "in the current wars I think we are all like flowers and plants, Hakuryuu. Everyone are fighting to get close to the sun, trampling over those beneath them, weaker than them, hiding them in shadows."

He sees the worry and the message in her eyes. "What would you have me do?" He asks, placing a hand over hers and turning the one she is holding so their palms touch.

Her hand is gone from his immediately. She hides it behind her back, but there is no rejection in her eyes. Instead there is a playful happiness there. It surprises and thrills him at the same time. "Listen to me during the diplomatic meeting tomorrow and please take our offer seriously."

He breathes through his nose and wishes he was emperor so he could promise her the world. "I wish more than anything we could go back to the days when we were on the same side, Morgiana," he says and there is no honourifics in his speech pattern now. "But I fear the Emperor is too much in the clutches of Al-Thamen. Nothing short of a marriage alliance could put us on the same side..."

He trails off on purpose, and allows the weight of his emotions to show in his eyes. She meets his gaze and the air is suddenly abuzz with a warm fuzzy feeling he recognises from his time in Sindria.

She stutters for the first time ever and he laughs for the first time in just as long and assures her it is only a joke.

* * *

><p>"You never did explain," she says.<p>

They are sitting together in his private wing two days later, watching the stars from one of the porches. The weather is mild. The meetings haven't gone well but that only seems to strengthen their friendship in private.

She is sitting with her feet dancing from the edge, her armour abandoned for a simpler dress. He is lying on his stomach beside her, robes crinkling where they shouldn't but he couldn't care less about that. "About what?"

"Why you wanted to apologise, Hakuryuu," she clarifies.

They've had a bit to drink and he seems bubbly and much more back to the way he had been in Sindria.

"Right," he smiles and it touches some part of her. Because he's smiling at her. He's smiling with that feeling in his eyes. Like he has found a cottage of light and life and hot tea in a sea of endless darkness. It scares her and excites her at the same time. "I wanted to apologise to you because I demanded things of you before fully understanding what drives you."

He tugs gently at her long hair, which is lying on the floor beside him and she frowns a little at his antics. "I wanted you to follow me without questioning. To support my quest for revenge. To become my wife and my empress. To become someone locked away in shadow, an ornamental doll protected by walls and barriers. That is unforgivable and I am sorry."

They sit in silence for a long time, both thinking that what he had planned for her then sounded a lot like slavery. Even if there is no labour.

"Do you still love me?" she asks quietly at last.

He smiles. "Very much so."

* * *

><p>It takes a bit of manoeuvring. Politically with his mother and emotionally with his siblings - they're all smugly sure they know why he has become so much lighter. But when her vessel leaves for Barbadd once more he is on it and it is not his mother who is on his mind.<p>

It is adventure and freedom and Morgiana.

* * *

><p>NO I'M NOT DEAD!<p>

I've been working on two long series of drabbles for KHR and a novel - which is my main focus atm. So yeah! loads to do!

But I've been watching magi and alas! My two ships are totally NOT going to happen! This is me trying to deal with that - AS THERE ARE BASICALLY NO FICS TO HELP ME WITH THAT!

I think the problem with Morgiana and Hakuryuu is two things: first he does not understand that she cannot live without her freedom. She would wither away and not be Morgiana anymore. Secondly he does not understand what Alibaba and Aladdin has done for her and becoming as ruthless as he has become he becomes their enemy so by demanding her love he also demands her to rip her loyalties in two. She can't do that.

But well! If Sasuke can change so can Hakuryuu and I'm REALLY hoping for it.

On another note I think I'm becoming entirely too fond of writing in present tense. It's somehow easier to express emotions with present these, but I'm going to try and move that ability to past tense too. Somehow...

SO! I hope you enjoy this and if you did I hope you'll leave a review.

Thanks for reading!


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